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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
As far as light, easy-reading murder mystery books go, this was fine, but I was almost more interested in trying to figure out the town which, as far as I can tell, has a police force of 2 (3 if you count the new recruit), seems to have a sort of small-town feel in terms with how everyone interacts, yet also seems to be half made up of wealthy socialites and expensive boutiques. And if we count all the cookies that our bakery owner/civilian crime solver gives away, one might wonder if she's making any money at all in her shop...which is slow enough to apparently leave it run by her assistant for what feels like several days, or at least many partial days, while she hunts for clues and sneakily interrogates her own suspects.
HOWEVER, did I still find myself trying to add up the clues and solve the case? Yes. Will I save a few of the recipes (and cut them in half because I do not need to make 6 dozen cookies at a time)? Also, yes. Will I keep reading these books? Maybe.
Tldr; The world building was almost non-existent and seemed very contrary, but it was otherwise fine for a "cozy mystery" book.
Plus bonus cookie recipes that make enough for any bake sale! (But are a bit excessive, in quantity, for a home baker imo.)
HOWEVER, did I still find myself trying to add up the clues and solve the case? Yes. Will I save a few of the recipes (and cut them in half because I do not need to make 6 dozen cookies at a time)? Also, yes. Will I keep reading these books? Maybe.
Tldr; The world building was almost non-existent and seemed very contrary, but it was otherwise fine for a "cozy mystery" book.
Plus bonus cookie recipes that make enough for any bake sale! (But are a bit excessive, in quantity, for a home baker imo.)
Bin jetzt halb durch und die Geschichte ist eigentlich gut, wenn man mal vom Bodyshaming und dem Frauenbild aus 1950 absieht. Die Schwester wird als schlechte Ehefrau dargestellt, weil sie nicht putzt oder kocht und dafür lieber Karriere macht und Haushälterinnen einstellt. Das Bodyshaming fand ich aber noch schlimmer.
Zitat: "So hübsch die Farben waren, Betty glich dennoch einem Zirkuszelt. Beim Näherkommen schwor sich Hannah eine Diät zu machen...."
Die Geschichte käme auch ohne diese Stellen aus.
Zitat: "So hübsch die Farben waren, Betty glich dennoch einem Zirkuszelt. Beim Näherkommen schwor sich Hannah eine Diät zu machen...."
Die Geschichte käme auch ohne diese Stellen aus.
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Solid cozy mystery. Not sure I'm a big fan of the audiobook. All the women have far too high pitched of voices. Im also not sure I'm a huge fan of the whole dating thing and how quickly she caved, but it is what it is.
Not terrible, but not great either. If I'm being completely honest though, I picked this up more for the recipes than the story and some of those cookies actually turned out to be rather delicious!
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
0 out of 10, would not recommend.
*le sigh* The Cozy Mystery genre appeals to me so much. I love murder mysteries, small towns, cute little shops, cute cats, and even clairvoyants. I’m brand new to the genre, so I picked out this book because it seems to be one of the most popular titles.
Please, someone tell me this isn’t the cream of the crop? That this book isn’t the representative of the genre? Because I hated it.
Okay—at first, I loved it! The protagonist has a cute cat? Check! The small town is small and cute? Check! The milk man is murdered! *gasp*
But as soon as that event happened, it went downhill fast for me. The protagonist, Hannah, barely (if ever?) shows emotion. She finds the body of the murdered milk man and is like *shrug*. Granted, I know to suspend some disbelief in this genre, and I’m not asking for the book to be a downer, but I *am* expecting the main character to at least respond to finding a dead body instead of the scene cutting right to her in her bakery, coddling her sister and her own problems. I had to do a double take just to make sure she was, in fact, the one that found the body.
And if I was the town sheriff, I would most definitely be looking at the protagonist as a prime suspect: first person to find body, shows no emotion, inserts self into investigation, etc. Alas, as I said, I could suspend some disbelief in this genre, even overlooking those details, if the main character wasn’t so unlikeable.
Because aside from those things, this book is crammed full of problematic elements like sexism, racism, fat-phobia, and a ton of other things that put a sour taste in my mouth.
I digress.
This wasn’t for me—and I so wanted it to be. *le sigh*
*le sigh* The Cozy Mystery genre appeals to me so much. I love murder mysteries, small towns, cute little shops, cute cats, and even clairvoyants. I’m brand new to the genre, so I picked out this book because it seems to be one of the most popular titles.
Please, someone tell me this isn’t the cream of the crop? That this book isn’t the representative of the genre? Because I hated it.
Okay—at first, I loved it! The protagonist has a cute cat? Check! The small town is small and cute? Check! The milk man is murdered! *gasp*
But as soon as that event happened, it went downhill fast for me. The protagonist, Hannah, barely (if ever?) shows emotion. She finds the body of the murdered milk man and is like *shrug*. Granted, I know to suspend some disbelief in this genre, and I’m not asking for the book to be a downer, but I *am* expecting the main character to at least respond to finding a dead body instead of the scene cutting right to her in her bakery, coddling her sister and her own problems. I had to do a double take just to make sure she was, in fact, the one that found the body.
And if I was the town sheriff, I would most definitely be looking at the protagonist as a prime suspect: first person to find body, shows no emotion, inserts self into investigation, etc. Alas, as I said, I could suspend some disbelief in this genre, even overlooking those details, if the main character wasn’t so unlikeable.
Because aside from those things, this book is crammed full of problematic elements like sexism, racism, fat-phobia, and a ton of other things that put a sour taste in my mouth.
I digress.
This wasn’t for me—and I so wanted it to be. *le sigh*
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced